BP is boosted by its second United States court victory in a week

Shares in BP rose today after the FTSE 100 oil giant won its second court case in a week.

A Galveston County jury in Texas has ruled that a massive release of noxious gas from a former BP refinery in Texas City caused no harm or nuisance to nearby residents.

After two and a half days of deliberations, the jury of eight women and four men absolved BP of any wrongdoing in a 2010 release of toxic gases that continued for at least 40 days.

About 48,000 people had sued for billions of dollars in punitive damages so BP’s victory came as a relief to investors, who sent the shares up by 1.1p to 438.4p.

At the same refinery in 2005 15 workers were killed and 170 others were injured by an explosion. The ruling comes a week after BP won another key victory, this time in its battle to cap the compensation payments to alleged victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, potentially saving it billions of dollars.

A US federal appeals court ordered a lower court judge to tighten the terms of the compensation agreement.